Popping the bubbly is part of the party

Popping the bubbly is part of the party and the here is a few tips to open a bottle of Bubbly
1.    Make sure your bottle is chilled – none of that luke-warm nonsense. Your bottle of bubbly should be very cold to the touch; this insures maximum bubbly potential and less foam when the bottle [...]

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Good news for festive season- Champagne good for the heart

If you need an excuse to pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly this festive season, here it is: It’s good for your heart.
British academics have found that champagne is packed with polyphenols – plant chemicals thought to widen the blood vessels, easing the strain on your heart and brain.
And researchers believe the health [...]

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Preserving unfinished wine

This is a dilemma amongst many of us. There are times we want to drink wine but couldn’t finish a bottle alone. Or when we are with a date who is not much of a wine drinker, we will end up with leftover wine, which of course we do not want to just throw away.
Wine [...]

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Planning a picnic for two

A picnic can be the most romantic time ever but if you don’t plan , it can flop badly. They say with picnics – “If you fail to plan you plan to fight”. Here are a few useful picnic tips.
Planning a picnic for a loved one can be the most romantic time ever spent together. [...]

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Killer Combos – White Wine

Red meat; red wine, white meat and fish; white wine. That’s the rule on food and wine matching, isn’t it? Not for the more adventurous – and confident – among us.
Although the before mentioned approach does sit true in many situations, it is vital to not only consider the colour of the wine but also [...]

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Simple rules for food and wine matching

Food and wine pairing is much simpler than you think. The main rules are to enjoy yourself and that the food and wine must both taste great on their own. If you remember this and follow these guideline food and wine matching will be a breeze.
There are no rules
The first and most important rule. There [...]

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How to handle guests that stay too long

Most people have, at one point or another, found themselves in a situation where they have house guests that stay too long and just don’t want to leave. Whether they have come for a few hours or a few days, it can be awkward to be put in a spot where you have to ask [...]

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Keith Floyd – A pioneer TV chef and a true original

Keith Floyd was a pioneer in TV cooking and from the mid eighties he was one of the most entertaining TV chefs. He loved his wine with a meal and he really had a knack for presenting food preparation and travel as a TV combo.
The biggest names in TV cooking have paid tribute to the [...]

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Say – Cheese and wine

When pairing wine and cheese, you want a wine that’s going to complement the flavours of the cheese and not overpower it – and vice versa. You wouldn’t drink a really light wine with a strong-tasting cheese, or a mild cheese with a full-bodied, robust wine.
There’s a general rule of thumb to follow: the stronger [...]

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Life is too short to only enjoy one style of wine

The famous quote goes “Life is too short for bad wine”.  I would like to add that “Life is too short to only drink one style of wine”. There is wide variety of wine styles in SA but some people just get stuck on one cultivar of wine.
South Africa has a great wine [...]

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